Nation & World

December 03, 2009|By From news services

New York rejects gay marriage

Wide loss in state senate stuns advocates, governor

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York lawmakers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, stunning advocates who weathered a similar decision by Maine voters just last month.

The New York measure needed 32 votes to pass and failed by a wider-than-expected margin, falling eight votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill's strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it.

After the vote, Paterson called Wednesday one of his saddest days in 20 years of public service and he criticized senators who he said support gay marriage but "didn't have the intestinal fortitude to vote for it."

Supporters had been hopeful they could eke out a narrow win, or a much closer vote. But afterward, they said private assurances were broken.

In the end, a half-dozen Democrats opposed the measure when it was expected only two or three would vote no. No Republicans supported the bill, even though most advocates had expected it would attract as many as four or five GOP senators.

Indigenous tribes fight Brazilian dam

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Tuira Kayapo, right, leader of the Kayapo tribe, speaks to Aloysio Guapindaia, left, director of Brazil's National Indian Foundation, during a public hearing at the Commission of Human Rights of the Federal Senate in Brasilia on Wednesday. Native communities of the Amazon rain forest are protesting the Brazilian government's decision to build the massive hydroelectric Belo Monte dam in the Xingu River.

WORLD

Iraq elections may be delayed over a month

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's scheduled January elections may be postponed by more than a month in a dispute over an election law, officials said Wednesday, a delay that could threaten U.S. withdrawal plans.

Iraqi lawmakers have been working for months to pass a law needed to reform the election process, seeking to make it more representative of Iraq's ethnic and religious groups. It is unclear what a long delay would mean for the U.S., which is scheduled to end combat missions in August.

Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who heads a small bloc in parliament, said a preliminary proposal from various political factions calls for moving the election to Feb. 27, but it could be pushed to March 1.

Chechens claim attack

MOSCOW -- Chechen rebels claimed responsibility Wednesday for a bombing last week that derailed a passenger train bound from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing 26 people and injuring 87 others.

The claim appeared on a Web site that often carries information from Islamic rebels seeking independence for the Russian republic of Chechnya.

A spokesman for the investigating committee of Russia's General Prosecutor's office confirmed the rebels' assertion that committee chief Alexander Bastrykin was injured during a second explosion at the site where the Nevsky Express passenger train derailed Friday.

NATION

32 attempted-murder counts in Fort Hood case

FORT WORTH, Texas -- An Army psychiatrist who may face the death penalty after the mass shooting at Fort Hood was charged Wednesday with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder relating to the scores of soldiers and two civilian police officers injured in the attack, military officials said.

Maj. Nidal Hasan has already been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder after the Nov. 5 shooting in a building at the Texas Army post where soldiers go before being deployed. Witnesses said he jumped on a desk and shouted "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great!" Army officials have said he was armed with two pistols, one a semiautomatic capable of firing up to 20 rounds without reloading.

Obesity outracing gains

Americans have increased their life expectancy by cutting back on cigarettes, but the pounds they're packing on means that, ultimately, they could lose ground.